What TV Shows and Movies Teach Us About Estate Planning, Grief, and Legacy

The best stories aren't really about death. They're about the people who have to keep living and what they need to move forward.

Most people don’t wake up one morning inspired to create an estate plan.

Usually something happens first. A friend loses a parent. A coworker spends months trying to settle an estate. A family member becomes an executor and suddenly discovers how much of someone else’s life they’re responsible for organizing.

Sometimes it's even simpler than that. You watch a movie or finish an episode of a television show, and one scene stays with you long after the credits roll. Not because it taught you about wills or trusts. Because it quietly made you wonder: "What would happen if this were my family?"

Stories have a way of helping us think about conversations we'd rather avoid. Maybe that’s why they’ve stayed with us for generations.

Over the past year, three stories have done exactly that for me. As someone who helped settle my father-in-law's estate, I find myself watching these stories differently now. I notice the unanswered questions, the invisible responsibilities, and the moments when one small piece of information could have made an incredibly difficult time just a little easier.

None of them mention estate planning. Yet every one of them left me thinking about the people who have to carry on afterward.

Shrinking: Life Keeps Moving

Where to watch: Apple TV+

If you haven’t seen Shrinking, the series follows therapist Jimmy Laird and his teenage daughter Alice as they rebuild their lives after the sudden death of Jimmy's wife, Tia. Rather than focusing on the loss itself, the story explores what it means to keep living afterward.

That's what stayed with me.

Life doesn't stop for grief. Bills still arrive. Children still need stability. The people left behind are asked to keep moving forward, often while carrying responsibilities they never expected.

Planning doesn’t change the loss. It simply gives families fewer things to figure out while they’re grieving.

Continue reading: What Shrinking Gets Right About Living After Loss

Voicemails for Isabelle: Some Things Can't Be Replaced

Where to watch: Netflix

If you haven't seen Voicemails for Isabelle, it follows Jill, who continues leaving voicemails for her late sister Isabelle after her phone number has been reassigned. What begins as an act of grief becomes an unexpected connection and a reminder of how fragile the things we treasure really are.

The moment that stayed with me wasn't the romance between Jill and Wes. It was everything Isabelle left behind without meaning to. It was the realization that some of the most valuable things we leave behind aren't financial at all. They're our stories, our traditions, our recipes and our voices.

Sometimes those become the things our families treasure most.

This story deserves a deeper conversation. Read: What Voicemails for Isabelle Gets Right About What We Leave Behind

Your Friends & Neighbors: The Funeral Isn't the Finish Line

Where to watch: Apple TV+

If you haven't seen Your Friends & Neighbors, one of the the series’ most memorable episodes follows Andrew "Coop" Cooper and his family through his father’s funeral and the day that follows. Everyone seems to grieve differently. His mom throws herself into keeping things moving. Family tensions don't magically disappear. Coop discovers there were parts of his father's life he never knew about. It's messy, uncomfortable, and incredibly human.

That's what stayed with me. The episode reminds us that funerals don't pause real life. They simply bring all of it into the same room from grief to family dynamics to unexpected discoveries. And the practical responsibilities that someone has to carry once everyone else goes home.

Planning won’t change a family’s grief. It can spare them from searching for passwords, paperwork, and unanswered questions while they’re trying to process it.

This story deserves a deeper conversation. Read: What Your Friends & Neighbors Gets Right About the People We Think We Know

So What Do These Stories Have in Common?

On the surface, they're very different stories.

• One is about learning to live after loss.

• One is about the memories and pieces of ourselves that live on.

• One is about everything that comes after the funeral.

But underneath, they're all asking the same question: How do the people we love continue after we're gone?

Watching these stories changed the way I think about planning.

It's making sure the people you love have the information, responsibilities, wishes, and everyday details they need to carry life forward. Because when those things only exist in one person's head or are scattered across emails, filing cabinets, password managers, and kitchen drawers, families are left piecing together a puzzle while they're grieving.

Loss is hard enough. Your family shouldn’t also have to price together where everything is. That's what we mean when we talk about the continuity of life.

Start with One Conversation

You don't have to organize your entire life today.

Start with one conversation. Tell someone where your important documents are. Write down the story behind a family heirloom. Record your favorite family recipe. Save a voicemail. Share where your emergency folder lives.

Those small conversations add up. And that roadmap may become one of the greatest gifts you ever leave behind.

Because in the end, estate planning isn't really about death. It's about helping the people you love keep living.